Plymouth Whitemarsh strikes back, downs Wissahickon

WHITEMARSH >> Any scientist worth his or her weight in government grants will tell you that lightning does not strike twice in the same spot.

But Tuesday afternoon, when a lightning strike delayed action in the second quarter of the boys lacrosse match between host Plymouth Whitemarsh and Wissahickon, it struck gold for the Colonials.

Trailing by two goals at the time of the stoppage, PW used the break to regroup, then came back in the second half to top the Trojans, 9-8, in a key Suburban One League American Conference contest.

With the win, the Colonials stayed within range of first-place Upper Dublin, who the Colonials host Friday.

“We came out flat, and I don’t know why,” said Colonials head coach Bryan Gregg. “We knew the importance of this game.”

In fact, PW trailed, 4-1, and got a goal by Shane Sullivan less than a minute before lightning struck.

“That was a big goal because it got us within two,” Gregg said. “With the delay we went into the locker room and were able to get some things straightened out.”

“There wasn’t a lot of yelling,” Sullivan said. “There was some motivation.

“Coach wanted us to show more fire and heart.”

And brought out to finish off the final three minutes-plus of the first half, PW scored twice to take a 4-4 tie into the abbreviated break.

“They had the energy we didn’t have,” said Trojans head coach Dan Layfield. “They deserve to be second in the league.

“We just kept making the same mistakes over and over.”

The Colonials grabbed a 5-4 lead early in the third period when Alex Savarese converted a perfect feed from Austin Betterly.

But Wissahickon scored the next three goals, and tallies from Eric Kaufmann, John Dickson and Keith Sharp had the Trojans in front, 7-5, going into the third period.

Wissahickon, however, only scored one more time, and that was after Jake Kelly, Betterly and two goals from Sullivan had pushed PW into a 9-7 lead.

Dickson scored in the game’s final 47 seconds to pull the Trojans within a goal of the lead.

But despite winning the ensuing draw, Wissahickon was unable to get a quality shot before time expired.

“We had a few heart-to-hearts in the locker room during that delay,” Gregg said, “and the guys came out with a lot of energy in the second half.”

“We came out slow, and I don’t know why,” Sullivan added. “But Wissahickon is a big rival and we don’t want to lose to them twice in the same season.”

“We hit their goalie about 100 times,” Layfield said. “Then, on defense, our older guys dropped the ball and (PW) put the shots where they needed to be.”
LAX-ENDS: Betterly led PW with two goals and three assists while Sullivan had three goals and Kelly had two goals and an assist. … Kaufmann led the Trojans with three goals while John Dunn had a goal and an assist and Owen Baim had two assists. … PW goaltender Dawson Faust had nine saves, many from in tight, while Cooper McMasters had four stops in net for Wissahickon.